The stacked blue squares with yellow triangles form the crane's one million pounds of counterweight.

A nearly 400-foot-tall crane is now, um, erect at the site of the new Vikings stadium, where it will remain for the next 15 months as the stadium construction continues.

The Terex CC6800 is reportedly the third-largest crane in the world. It can lift up to 1,250 metric tons and has more than one million pounds counterweight, according to info provided by the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Authority.

It was shipped from Pennsylvania last month in 70 truckloads, then assembled over the course of 11 days.

For context, consider that at 400-feet tall, the crane would be the 20th-tallest building in Minneapolis, just behind the 404-foot-tall Hennepin County Government Center.

The crane is still being tested. Its first real construction-related project will be to lift steel pieces of the stadium's inner column weighing up to 400,000 pounds. The heaviest load the crane is slated to lift during its time in Minneapolis is a 450,000 pound piece of the stadium's roof.

Jenn Hathaway, MSFA spokesperson, tells us the crane "is really there to erect the roof structure. Those pieces are big and heavy."

"I haven't done any research as to the level of bigness, but it is one of the biggest of its type in the world," she says. "There are very few cranes that can pick up 630,000 pounds like the one we were able to get."

In a news release, the MSFA took a local angle on the crane's presence.

"The stadium project is contracting with hundreds of Minnesota businesses and will employ thousands of Minnesotans," Michele Kelm-Helgen, chair of the MSFA, says. "Two of the newest employees -- veteran crane operators, managing the new CC6800 -- are from Buffalo and Becker, Minnesota."

The MSFA also released a handful of photos of the crane. To see 'em, click to page two.

Why do we care about a crane that probably cost the tax paying people to get shipped over here to build a stadium for a bunch of narcissistic monkeys wearing purple suits who get paid millions of dollars to keep us distracted from the real issues at hand?
Fuck the system.